Originally Posted by
ganymede
monty,
i am not sure this has been asked, i met a nitro veteran and he mentioned to me that one of the most important thing that i can do to prolong my engine life is loosen the button head and retighten it SLOWLY so that all four screws go in equally. he said, all new engines especially european mills are very very tight when new, one can hardly turn it over by hand, but after loosen and retighten the button head i am surprised that he can even turn over a new mill by hand! wat's your take on this?
no way i can turn over my plus 4 by hand when brand new, he said this might have to do with the way the button head screws are tighthen from factory, the sleeve might not sit perfectly perpendicular and the piston rub against it creating the tightness, after resitting the sleeve and retighthening the button head, everything is nice and straight, the piston and sleeve lines up perfectly and hence smoother engine and longer life...
ur opinions on this are greatly appreciated...
there is definitely some serious torque on the nova heads from the factory and yes a block can easily be warped by overtightening or improperly torqueing your head bolts . i personally disassemble and inspect every engine of my own .
i will partially agree with your friends thoughts but novarossi tightens the heads down with proper torque pattern and torque tension so i dont feel it is quite as important as it sounds . they have certain specs that they build their engines to and they did not just come up with these specs overnight
